


the best and bright moments

by Rachaelizame



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-29 23:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8510806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachaelizame/pseuds/Rachaelizame
Summary: When Julian discovers something new about his beloved Kukalaka, his boyfriend is there to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cosmo_is_Beink_Melon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmo_is_Beink_Melon/gifts).



> Art swap with Pris at prisdreamsofsweetness.tumblr.com  
> They requested fluffy Garashir with Kukalaka. I think I managed two thirds of that, though it feels more general than fluffy.

Julian stared down at Kukalaka, biting his lips, conflicted. He’d always thought… He would have sworn he remembered it differently.

His parents had found a box of his things in their attic, and they’d had it sent to Deep Space Nine for him. He wanted to tell them just to throw it out, but that would have required talking to them, so he just ignored the message they’d sent telling him what they were doing and opened the box when it arrived. It was full of things from his childhood: jerseys from various sports, a few brightly colored skirts he’d loved too much to throw away, cards from relatives he never saw after the augmentation and a datarod full of pictures. And it was that last category that brought up the problem he was currently facing.

He’d been flipping through the cards and pictures, wishing his memories from that time were clearer. All he could really remember were a couple vague images of his extended family. He’d seen a picture of himself holding a brand new Kukalaka and clicked the caption to enlarge it.

“Jules the day we gave him Kukalaka” in his mother’s handwriting. And that… that just didn’t make sense.

Aunt Fatima gave him Kukalaka. He knew that. He’d always known that. It was one of the few memories he had of that time, and he treasured them. He could picture it, vaguely, but as clear as any memory from before age seven. He’d spent a day trying to put it out of his mind, but couldn’t quite manage it. Finally, he’d realized he’d have to call his parents if he wanted an answer.

He checked the time, seeing that it wasn’t too late to call, and punched in their comm number. They appeared on the screen within minutes. Julian shoved the thought of how happy they looked to see him out of his mind. He couldn’t forgive them for what they’d done, even if a part of him still wanted to please them.

“Hullo. I just had a quick question. Who gave me Kukalaka?” His parents looked confused at the question.

“Why, we did Jules,” Richard spoke. Julian gritted his teeth.

“No, it had to be Aunt Fatima! I remember!”

“I wasn’t even aware you remembered Fatima at all,” Amsha spoke, looking at Richard.

“Well I do. And it had to have been her. I remember her handing me Kukalaka. We were at a party and afterwards she picked me up and carried me to the table where we all had cake. I know we did!” Amsha and Richard continue to look confused, before a light comes on in Amsha’s eyes.

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking of. It must be because memories of when you were young are so difficult to remember. That wasn’t when you got Kukalaka. That was your cousin Talia’s birthday, a few weeks afterward. You had brought him to the party and lost him. When you couldn’t find him you threw such a fit! Fatima finally found him and brought him back to you and the party could resume. You clung to her for the rest of the party you were so grateful.”

“You mean all this time, you thought Fatima gave him to you?” Julian thought he detected a hint of annoyance in Richard’s tone, but the man laughed it off. “How strange memories can be!"

"Okay, thanks,” Julian hung up the call without waiting to say goodbye. He realized most people would view it as a silly thing to care about, but it felt like his whole world just got knocked off balance. Kukalaka had been one of the only things to survive the destruction of his bedroom when he’d learned of his genetic enhancement, and that had been because he’d thought he had nothing to do with his parents. It had been part of why he’d been willing to keep him so long- because he was a remnant of the family he couldn’t remember. Now, of course, Kukalaka held other memories, but that had been the beginning of it for him.

He’d just finished that thought when the door opened and Garak walked in. Normally, Julian would be glad to see his boyfriend, but right now he was annoyed.

“What are you doing here?” Julian demanded. Garak raised an eyeridge.

“So hostile, Doctor. What a shame we can’t use it for good purpose.” Julian wasn’t in the mood to flirt- or argue, which, with Garak was the same thing. He just glared in response.

“Strange to make a call to someone all the way on Earth and hang up after ten minutes.” Julian didn’t bother asking how’d he’d found out about that.

“Strange but not unheard of. Perhaps I just needed to confirm something,” he said.

“Yes, but given the way you’ve been acting all day, I doubt you were in the mood to talk to anyone unless you really felt it necessary. And given the way you’re glaring at your oh so beloved bear, which normally will cheer you up even in the most foul of moods, it somehow relates to it.”

“I just- learned my parents gave me Kukalaka.”

“And that distresses you?”

“My relationship with my parents is… complicated. My relationship with Kukalaka has always been easy.”

“Yes, you do seem to care for that bear beyond what I would have expected.”

“He means something to me, and now some of that meaning is gone.” Garak frowned, troubled. He may not understand why Julian so cared for his bear, but he still didn’t want Julian to lose something he so cared for.

“My dear, meaning is subjective. That bear has been a part of your life since you were a child. It’s helped you through your worst days and nights. Even if the memory of receiving him is tainted, why should the meaning change?” Julian frowned, contemplating that. He hadn’t only kept Kukalaka for the reminder of family. He’d been with him when they went to Adigeon Prime. He’d been with him through the upheaval of his family afterwards and every day of his new existence. He’d been a comfort for so long. As Garak had said, did it really matter where he had come from? Julian was no longer the fifteen year old who wanted to destroy anything his parents had ever had anything to do with. His self destructive teenage habits had long since left. Why let their influence hurt him again?

“I suppose you have a point. But don’t think I’m going to let you use that argument with _Illuminated_. Kukalaka may still have meaning, but the blossoms do not!” Garak smiled.

“My dear, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

-

That night, as Julian lay awake- long after Garak for once- he thought back to the memory of Aunt Fatima. The feeling of the memory was different now that he had context for it, but it still touched him. That she would help him find his prized Kukalaka when he couldn’t meant something to him. Clutching his bear in his arms, with his boyfriend huddled against him for warmth, Julian fell asleep.


End file.
